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        Cluster Headache Help and Support >> Cluster Headache Specific >> another headache last night...curious
        
(Message started by: Stoic on Jan 13^th, 2008, 8:30am)

Title: another headache last night...curious
Post by Stoic on Jan 13^th, 2008, 8:30am

Woke up shortly after 100 AM last night with a typical headache. Left side as always, congestion, pressure, pain, etc. Tried to sleep on my right side which brought only token relief, and eventually rose to take 100 mg of Imitrex, which worked like a charm as always.

But I'm beginning to doubt that this is cluster headache. The pain comes on only gradually, and is only moderate by comparison with some of the horrible stories about excurciating cluster headaches I read here and elsewhere. My typical pain is a dull ache, increasing pressure and congestion. Duration seems open-ended unless relieved by Imitrex or Vicodin.

I'm still thinking about drug-related REM sleep disruption. Almost every night for the last two months, I've taken either Melatonin, or Vicodin, or Fiorinal, or Ativan to induce sleep. I've read that each of these can suppress REM sleep, and produce headache as a side effect. Yesterday I avoided all those medications with the exception of one Fiorinal in the late afternoon. Although I did wake up with my typical headache, I returned to sleep within an hour after taking the Imitrex and enjoyed some of the best sleep I've had since this all began.

This may be wishful thinking -- as much as I like all you folks, I'd like to think this isn't cluster headache. It sounds like a real nightmare.

Bob

Title: Re: another headache last night...curious
Post by monty on Jan 13^th, 2008, 3:36pm

Could be a hypnic headache or a REM/apnea induced migraine. Cluster pain tends to be quite intense and focused, when its bad, it is extremely bad. Most clusterheads get shadows from time to time, which are duller and more diffuse. But if you have clusters, you will become very familiar with a little spot behind one eye (roughly in the area of a 'brain freeze' that comes with too much cold stuff in the mouth).

Quote:

Hypnic headache: A relatively rare form of headache disorder in which the patient is awakened from sleep nightly, usually between 1 and 3am, with intense dull or throbbing pain over the whole head. Each episode may last up to 1 hour and be associated with nausea. Similar episodes may occasionally strike in the daytime. Hypnic headache almost always affects people over 65. The precise cause is unknown but there is evidence that hypnic headache is related to REM sleep. The first treatment option is lithium. If it is not effective or is not tolerated, indomethacin, flunarizine, and caffeine may be useful. Also called alarm clock headache.

http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=24769

Not a perfect description of that headache - clusters are also called alarm-clock headaches sometimes, although quite different. The 1 hour time limit would not apply if it is a migraine triggered by sleep - they can go on for quite a while. And the 'almost always over 65' can blind people to a real possibility if they are younger (it used to be said that cluster sufferers were 'overwhelmingly male' but there are quite a few women with clusters, and it seems to be increasing (maybe due to better diagnosis and discarding stereotypes about the patients).

Title: Re: another headache last night...curious
Post by Stinger on Jan 22^nd, 2008, 1:23pm

I know with my headaches, lying down is not an option. As soon as I awaken I hit the floor and pace until it is gone. Waking up with one is the worst feeling I know.